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How to paint a motorcycle without a compressor & spray gun

msfit it would've been a shame had i got rid of all the plastics... i have all the stock plastics so i can switch back whenever i get bored of the all white. I agree with you and thats why i still have them. i dont think i could've sat the sanding off all that red/white. lol. thanks
 
Krazy9er said:
msfit it would've been a shame had i got rid of all the plastics... i have all the stock plastics so i can switch back whenever i get bored of the all white. I agree with you and thats why i still have them. i dont think i could've sat the sanding off all that red/white. lol. thanks
Click to expand...

Haha :thumbup Well that's awesome :D
 
The thing that always bugs me about spray paint (rattle cans) is the tactile feel of the paint. I have not tried your method yet, but every method I *have* tried always leaves the surface feel nasty and suffocating (I don't know how else to describe it) with the slightest hint of stickyness, even on paint that dried a year ago. This is even with sanding and multiple thin coats.

Does your method wind up like this too, or is this fixed by clearcoat (which I haven't yet tried)
 
Man, this thread is awesome. Just wanted to throw out a quick thanks to reckon for his time and effort involved in making this thread.
 
So I think I may finally do this. Bike is looking kinda old so I think it's time. I do have a (small) compressor now, but I think this may be just fine. I'll have to look back through the technique before I decide for sure which way to do it.

Dave
 
Here's the 94th thank you for this thread - I'm pretty sure this is my favorite thread on this site :)

Cheers
 
A question:

Do you have any experience with the refillable spray cans?
http://www.amazon.com/Northern-Industrial-Tools-Refillable-Aerosol/dp/B0000AX88U

Investing in a compressor and HPLV spray gun wouldn't make sense financially with the starving Grad student budget. The hobbyist part wants to try learning a new skill. The environmentalist part wants to find a safe, and less dangerous solution. The prissy guy element wants to make the bike look less ratty.

The refillable aerosol can theoretically has the same abilities, but with some very notable issues.
1) condensation: I intend on filling the can with a bicycle pump. Atmospheric air contains non-insignificant amounts of gaseous water.
2) non-adjustable nozzle.

I went to my local auto paint shop, but they didn't know how well it would work. Not that I blame them at all :p
 
I didn't have access to HPLV stuff so I used the "Reckon Rattle Can technique". For only spending $80, I was surprised with the outcome. The paint laid down really flat. The plastic was old and crappy so it took a little bit of prep sanding. It was still cheaper to paint rather than buying all new plastics, so I figured what the heck and have some fun with it.

Thanks for the write up Reckon :thumbup

Here are some before and after pics:
 

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So I was looking at the fluorescent pant by wicked-colors, is that only for airbrushing or can it be sprayed through a can as well. I was kind of confused with what they were explaining. What would I need and what would be the right ratio to mix? I'm looking at the Crisp pearl white, fluorescent green and fluorescent sunburst. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Also, I am thinking of doing the rims in the same color as well. Would it work as well in powder coating?
 
I must pay my respects to this thread, especially the original poster. I probably viewed this one a couple dozen times making sure I followed everything step by step. I pretty much followed it like a manual, except the body came ready to paint with urethane primer. I just picked up in the instructions where you sanded the primer. I also didn't buy the correct U-POL clear. I still used it and it came out okay, but it needed to be color sanded and polished. It really turned out good except for where I burned through in a couple spots. This could be in the gravel trap tomorrow so I am not too worried. :laughing

In San Jose I couldn't find anyone to fill custom cans so I headed up to San Leandro Color. No hassle there. They were very helpful and got me what I needed in about an hour.
I used PPG paint 2 cans for each color. They matched the black to R6 black with their computer. I picked the white and blue from some paint books. 5 cans of the U-POL Clear (Not #1) put 4 coats on. I can of U-Pol Primer to touch up where I drilled the mounting holes.

I color sanded with 1500 grit and then hit it with Meguires 105 Ultra Compound by hand 90% of the time. This step really helped since I didn't get to shoot the good clear.

Anyways thanks for the great write up. I am a believer.


IMAG0009


IMAG0010 (1)
 
After doing a test panel as suggested, I am in the process now and so far so good.

I had no idea how much sanding would be involved in removing the prior paint, so here is a timely and extremely stupid question: how important is it to remove the old paint completely?
Where I have removed all paint and primer and sanded down to the plastic it is clearly the best, but it is really difficult to get everything off certain curves and crevices. One guy on a YZF Forum even said "don't even bother removing any thing and prime over it."

EDIT: I think I've figured this out. If you sand down to the plastic, you have to sand down everything (on the piece) down to the plastic. Otherwise you can sand down to just the primer (possibly even just the clear coat off) and make sure everything is even. I'll post pics of the two pieces done respectively.
 
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I'm about to get started redoing some panels on my bike, and I was wondering about decals. What are the pros and cons about applying clear over them? The pro is obviously that it's protected, but are there any drawbacks?
 
You just need to be careful when applying them. I'm not sure about spray paint but with regular automotive paint you have to make sure that you don't pull the base coat up when you re-position.
 
Reading this...I'm wondering if when I start looking into painting things....if I should start with this and stick with the airbrush for custom/illustrative work. Then again, I already have the compressors, hoses, etc...just not a larger spray-gun.

Either way, it inspires me to start soon. o: *bookmarked*
 
I'm working on my "test panel", and sprayed the clear last night. I got some minor runs and orange peel, but that's why it's practice...

However, when I looked this morning, the runs actually had bubbles in them. Any idea where that came from? I didn't see any bubbles where there weren't runs, so I don't know if it's just that the clear is outgassing and the runs are so thick the gas is trapped and can't get out or if there's something weird going on. I'm using 3M ChromaClear 2600S or some such number.
 
MSFIT said:
Was talking with Reckon through PM's about masking off for different colors/patterns and not sure what masking tape to be using.

I started painting my tank with a flat green(rattle can). I'm going to be following the original F4i paint/sticker scheme with different colors. So I will be painting gloss black wings on the green, then clear coating over just the wings.
Click to expand...

I am getting ready to apply the base coat on a bike I'm working on and I wanted to check here to get opinions before I started. I'm at the high build stage and have followed this thread religiously. I will be painting stripes on the tank and seat like the image below.
paint1.jpg


If you'll notice, there is a silver outline on the black stripe. What I wanted to make sure of was the order that I go through painting.

My plan is to lay down the base coat first (white), then shoot the silver over the whole area of the stripes, then mask for the black to leave a little silver showing. My only concern is what reckon mentioned about the raised edge. Of course, going with the lightest color first and covering that will allow for the coats to be minimal.

The alternative would be to mask the stripe area before I lay down the white base coat, then mask the silver outline off, and finally the black. This way the layers are all even and I don't have to worry about an edge.

Any thoughts or recommendations? Has anyone done something like this with this method?
 
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